Sean Dylan Kelly will never forget that on September 15, 2024, he won his first MotoAmerica Steel Commander Superbike race. He’ll also know that he beat the very best in a straight fight to get that win after passing five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier in the last corner on the last lap of Circuit of The Americas on a scorching hot Sunday.
That was the early race on Sunday. There was more to come in race three.
With a track temperature of 120 degrees, the third and final Superbike race got started with another Josh Herrin holeshot. This time, Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Beaubier didn’t waste much time in moving past his championship rival. But it didn’t last as Ezra Beaubier’s (his younger brother) BMW blew up and dumped oil on the track, bringing out a red flag.
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Herrin got the jump on the field on the restart, but this time there was jostling at the top for the duration with Herrin leading five laps and Beaubier holding the spot across the line on five occasions, including the final four.
At the finish it was Beaubier holding off Herrin by .970 of a second after an absolute thrillfest of a Superbike race. Kelly was also in the fray until backing off near the end of the race to finishing 2.9 seconds behind in third.
Photo by Brian J. Nelson
When all was said and done, Beaubier had won two of the three Steel Commander Superbike races to pull back valuable points on Herrin. Going into the series finale at New Jersey Motorsports Park in two weeks, Beaubier trails Herrin by 46 points, 300-254.
“So, you’re telling me there’s a chance,” might be a bit optimistic, but Beaubier’s win-second-win weekend has breathed a bit of life into his championship aspirations.
The top three in race three were the same as in race two, but not in the same order. It was Beaubier, Herrin, Kelly in race three; Kelly, Beaubier, Herrin in race two.
Fourth place in the final race of the weekend went to Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante, almost five seconds ahead of Herrin’s teammate Loris Baz with Escalante’s teammate Brandon Paasch finishing for the second time on the day.
Seventh place in race three went to Beaubier’s teammate JD Beach, who was well clear of Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates.
FLO4LAW Racing’s Benjamin Smith and Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing’s Cameron Petersen rounded out the top 10.
Superbike Race 2
Despite all the back and forth at the front, Kelly somehow managed to lead all 12 laps at the stripe, but he lost the lead on the final lap when Beaubier stuffed his Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW M 1000R under the similar BMW of Kelly at the end of the backstraight. At this point, it looked like Beaubier had control with just a handful of corners left, but Kelly was determined, and he returned the favor on his former Moto2 teammate with a lunge up the inside in the final corner. From there he was able to get to the finish line first to earn that first-ever Superbike in a race to remember.
All of this played into the hands of Herrin, who dropped off the lead duo and hoped that Kelly could somehow beat Beaubier to help him in his championship quest. With Kelly doing just that, Beaubier only pulled back four points on Herrin and not the nine he would have gained if he’d won with Kelly between them. Herrin was just a tick under five seconds adrift of the lead duo.
Kelly’s margin of victory over Beaubier was .177 of a second and it made him the sixth different winner of a MotoAmerica Superbike race in 2024 – joining Herrin, Beaubier, Jake Gagne, Bobby Fong, and Cameron Petersen.
In winning the first race of his career as a rookie on a first-year team, EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro Racing’s Kelly became the 66th rider to win an AMA Superbike National.
Herrin’s teammate Baz improved his pace dramatically from Saturday’s race one to finish fourth, some eight seconds off the leader after slowing in the final laps.
Another to improve from Saturday’s race one was Wrench Motorcycle’s Bobby Fong with the Californian racing to fifth – one spot better than in race one.
Sixth place went to Paasch, with the youngster finding something in morning warmup to increase his pace.
Petersen, Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Xavi Forés, Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Beach and Yates rounded out the top 10.
Escalante stood on the podium in race one on Saturday, but he suffered a crash in race two that resulted in a DNF.
Superbike Race Two
- Sean Dylan Kelly (BMW)
- Cameron Beaubier (BMW)
- Josh Herrin (Ducati)
- Loris Baz (Ducati)
- Bobby Fong (Yamaha)
- Brandon Paasch (Suzuki)
- Cameron Petersen (Yamaha)
- Xavi Forés (Yamaha)
- JD Beach (BMW)
- Ashton Yates (Honda)
Superbike Race Three
- Cameron Beaubier (BMW)
- Josh Herrin (Ducati)
- Sean Dylan Kelly (BMW)
- Richie Escalante (Suzuki)
- Loris Baz (Ducati)
- Brandon Paasch (Suzuki)
- JD Beach (BMW)
- Ashton Yates (Honda)
- Benjamin Smith (Yamaha)
- Cameron Petersen (Yamaha)
This is what Superbike race three looked like at the front for the duration. Cameron Beaubier (6) beat Josh Herrin (2) and Sean Dylan Kelly (40) to take the championship fight to New Jersey.
Photo by Brian J. Nelson
Quotes
Sean Dylan Kelly – First/Third
“Yeah, this one is definitely up there. It was unreal to get that first superbike win, as you guys can imagine. I’ve been working really, really hard for it. From the beginning of the season, just being close in a handful of races. I crashed out of the lead in Road America. I had a couple more chances here and there. Didn’t just come true, but this race two earlier today was absolutely incredible. It was pretty cool to be battling with these guys and even cooler to be honest to be able to do that pass in the last corner for the win. That was insane. Brought me a little flashback from Supersport days with Richie (Escalante), doing all those last-lap scraps. It was also a little bit of a fairytale first win with that special livery that we did ten days ago with all the kids from the Children’s Hospital. Obviously, it was a dream to be able to make it happen. Dreaming and doing are two different things, and that was amazing. Just feeling on top of the moon with what we did today.”
Josh Herrin – Third/Second
“I was feeling extra motivated. We’ve got the DRE (Ducati ride day) tomorrow. I like going to those things with a win. It’s not fun going if you don’t win. Everybody is not as pumped. We had the Ferracci stuff on. I wanted to get it for him. I’m bummed that we didn’t get it with that on. But it was kind of like one of those days where it was so hot that if you don’t just give it your all, then you’re going to be a lot weaker, in my mind. You can think, I’m going to go out and just relax, but then you do worse because you just let the heat get to you. Where if you just put your head down and go for it, then it makes it a lot easier. It was hot behind Cam’s (Beaubier) bike, so I didn’t want to sit behind him the whole race. Probably took one too many risks. I just talked to Hayes on the way in. He said those are the rides that make your crew happy to be working for you. So, I just wanted to go out and do good for them, do good for my family. I wanted to go hang out. I don’t want to win by just riding around and cruising. I want to win by riding like Beaubier or (Josh) Hayes or (Mat) Mladin did. I don’t want to just ride around. That was a super difficult weekend. I’m happy to come out of here. It’s crazy how many points you can lose even when you’re riding that good. We lost I think 14 points or something. I got really lucky in race two because I didn’t think I was going to be able to battle for the win, and when I saw Sean (Dylan Kelly) go and I know how motivated he is to win, I just wanted to leave a little bit of a gap, or try to create a bigger gap to him and Beaubier because I knew Beaubier was going to be strong at the end, and I just was adding up during the race. If I can make myself lose four points instead of five points, it puts me in a better position. I can then beat him in the third race and have one point on top, because I know he’s got more race wins than me. So, I needed to beat him in the last one. Just probably way too much thinking going on this weekend. That last race, I just I didn’t want to think. I just wanted to go. Hats off to the boys for making such a good bike. Congrats to Sean on his win. It’s not just cool seeing him win because he’s getting his first win, but we’re OnlyFans teammates. He’s been racing at my house since he was a little kid, so it’s cool battling and just getting beat by somebody that got raised at my house racing. That’s a cool feeling. Hats off to them. Good job, Beaubier. Get to hopefully wrap it up at our home race in Jersey.”
Cameron Beaubier – Second/First
“Those last couple laps, I just put everything I had into trying to open up just enough of a gap to where I could keep the track open and get to the line first. Josh (Herrin) and I were stuffing each other left and right, pretty much all day. It was a pretty fun race this afternoon, honestly. I think to go out and push as hard as you can this afternoon was going to be pretty tough, so I felt like the way we were racing each other, it kind of kept it light and kept us on our toes and not just drilling the pace lap after lap after lap. I felt like that was honestly pretty fun. It was a good fight. I was pretty surprised he was fighting me that hard with as much as he has to lose. I definitely wouldn’t have been doing that. Didn’t do that in the past, but credit to him. He was riding hard. It was good. I haven’t had a tough day like that in a long time. That was a pretty hard day with those two superbike races on Sunday in 100-plus heat out at this track. I’d say this track is probably one of the most physical tracks we have on the schedule. Happy with being able to just come back after my foot injury with some fitness. The last month break was really good for me just to try to get some fitness back. We’re keeping it alive going into Jersey, but to be honest with you, it’s pretty much done. I did everything I could for the boys to just give us a fighting chance.”
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